Air conditioning device



Dec. 18, 1934. J J, STRANG ET AL 1,984,605

AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Filed March 23, 1932 INVENTORS 9 John J. Sfrang -fm/'/c R Bras BY WM- JU ZML ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 18, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Missouri Application March 23, 1932, Serial No. 600,697 16 Claims. (01. 62-139) Our invention relates to an air conditioning device and more particularly to a device adapted to reduce the temperature and humidity of the air in a room.

One object of our invention is to provide a device which will reduce the temperature and humidity of the air in a room without the aid of circulating water, mechanical refrigerating devices and ice.

Another object of our invention is to provide a means in which the cooling effect is produced by the evaporation of water.

Another object of our invention is to provide an efiicient and simple means for evaporating water to lower the temperature thereof.

Another object of our invention is to provide a device in which the circulation of cooled water is effected by convection whereby pumps and the like are eliminated.

Another object of our invention is to provide means for precipitating moisture from the air .in order to reduce its humidity.

In the accompanying drawing which forms part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a housing enclosing one modification of our invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional perspective view showing one embodiment of our invention.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 30 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail of another modification.

In general our invention contemplates the provision of a pair of blowers driven in any suitable manner, preferably by a single motor adapted to induce the flow of air in a pair of parallel and separate streams. These blowers are mounted at one end of our device. We provide an upper compartment and a lower compartment, placing a water tank in the upper compartment. 40 On the surface of the water in the water tank we provide a floating framework across which is stretched a fabric screen. The fabric screen will thus be constantly floating on the surface of the water. The upper blower will take in air from 45 screen and induce an evaporation of the water from the surface of the wetted screen. The air passing in contact with the screen will have its humidity raised and we contemplate discharging 50 this highly humidified air outdoors. The lower compartment is provided with a series of Venturi sections and baflles. The air drawn by the lower blower passes into the lower compartment through a-suitable inlet and is drawn through the 65 Venturi sections. The Venturi sections and bafany suitable inlet across the surface of the fabric fie plates are water jacketed. The water supply to the water jackets and the Venturi sections and bafile plates is drawn from the tank in the upper compartment. This water will be cooled by the evaporation described above and the cooled water 5 will sink, passing around the Water jackets and displacing the warmer water which will rise to the upper tank. The air passing through the Venturi sections in contact with the bailie plates will be cooled below its dew point so that moisture 10 will be precipitated. This moisture is collected and drained off. The air thus cooled and reduced in humidity is discharged by the lower blower into the room.

More particularly referring now to the draw- 15 ing, casing 1 is divided by a vertical partition 2 into a pair of compartments 3 and 4. Compartment 4 is provided with a louver board 5, the openings of which may be regulated by handle 6. Electric motor '7 is directly connected to a centrifugal blower 8 and drives centrifugal blower 9 through V-belt 10. Water tank 11 is mounted in the upper portion of compartment 3 and divided it into upper and lower portions. In the lower portion of compartment 3 we mount a series of baflies 12, 13, and 14. Bafiles 12 and 14 are conical shaped for a purpose which will be hereinafter more fully described. Baflies 12 and 14 are supported by partitions 15 and 16. If desired, we may place an ozone machine 17 in the path of the air drawn into the lower compartment. Baflies 12, 13, and 14 are hollow and are in communication with water tank 11 by means of pipes 18, 19, and 20. The lower portions of the respective baflles are in communication with a lower water tank 21 by means of pipes 22, 23, and 24. A radiator 25 is mounted at the air intake end of the lower compartment 3 and forms an additional communication between upper water tank 11 and lower water tank 21. It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the water cooled by evaporation in the upper Water tank 11 will -flow downwardly through radiator 25 and baffles 12, 13, and 14 by convection, to the lower water tank displacing the warm water which will rise to the upper water tank in turn to be cooled. In other words, it will be understood that we have provided a thermo-siphon system of circulation and have thus dispensed with the necessity for i using pumps to effect a circulation. On the inside of the upper portion of the housing 1 we provide a series of bafiles 26 which will deflect the air coming in through upper air inlet 27 onto the surface of the fabric screen 28 which is stretched on the floating framework 29. The floating framework 29 may be of tubular metal, wood, or any suitable floating material. The screen 28 which is stretched on the floating framework may be of any suitable fabric material. We prefer, however, to use a linen crash inasmuch as we find that this material will give a very high rate of evaporation. It is to be understood that the floating screen floats at the very surface of the water so that the screen will be constantly wetted by capillary action of its component fibres. The rough surface of the screen presents an increased evaporation area and enables us to enhance the rate of evaporation and hence the reduction of the temperature of the water in tank 11. It is obvious that if the air drawn in through air intake 2'? be high in humidity to begin with that the rate of evaporation will be lessened. On very humid days, therefore, we provide a means for increasing the temperature of the air passing over the evaporating screen 28 in order to induce a greater evaporation. Mounted at the intake end of the upper compartment we provide a heating means 30. This heating means may be an electrical resistance controlled by switch 31. It will be readily appreciated that the air passing through heated resistance 30 will be raised in temperature and accordingly its relative humidity will be reduced enabling the air thus heated to evaporate a greater volume of water in passing over the screen 28. The upper blower 9 has its suction end 32 mounted in partition 2 to draw the air passing over the evaporating screen 28. The discharge end 33 of the blower 9 is connected to a duct 34 which leads to a'window fitting 35 and is discharged to the atmosphere without the room, the air of which is being conditioned. The window board 35 is composed of a pair of slidable members 36 and 37 which enable the window board to be positioned in windows of varying widths. After the board is positioned in the window aperture the window 38 is lowered to the top of the board. It is to be understood that suitable gaskets or packing means may be provided to insure that there is no leakage of the warm air.

The air in the room passing through radiator 25 becomes cool by heat exchange in the radiator and passes through the conical baiile plate 12. It is to be understood that the ozone machine 17 may be in operation. The air passing through conical baflie 12 will contact the cool walls of the baflle and in being forced through a somewhat restricted space will cause a precipitation of part of the moisture in the air. The precipitated moisture will drain onto the floor 39 of the compartment 3. The air leayingthe baflle 12 will strike the baflle plate 13 and will be cooled from precipitating further moisture. The precipitation of the moisture is aided by the change of direction of the air as it passes around the wings of the baflle 13. The air being conditioned will then pass through a second conical baille 14 and will be further cooled and slightly compressed causing an additional precipitation of moisture which will likewise collect on the floor 39 of the compartment 3. The floor 39 is inclined so that the water precipitated from the air being conditioned will drain through suitable openings in the baflles to drain .pipe 40 whence it will collect in tank 41 which is provided with a drain 42 through which the collected moisture may be periodically removed. The air leaves the conical baflie 14 and passes into the suction end of blower 8 and is discharged by the blower discharge 43 into a distributing baille 44 which is provided with a louver board 5, whence the air is discharged into the room.

In operation, air entering the air intake 27 passes over the surface of the screen 28, being deflected downwardly thereupon by baflles 26 and is drawn by blower 9 through blower suction port 32. In passing over the screen 28 which is floating on the surface of the water in tank 11 and is constantly wetted by said water, the air will evaporate a considerable quantity of water and in so doing will lower the temperature of the water in tank 11. In a device as shown in the drawing, we have been able to evaporate four and a half gallons of water per day, using a screen made of linen crash. It is to be noted that, if the humidity be high in the room in which our device is operating, we may place heating elements 30 in operation by means of switch 31 and heat the incoming air to lower its relative humidity and thus enable it to absorb more water than it ordinarily would and hence maintain the evaporation rate. The humid air entering blower 9 is discharged thereby through duct 34 outdoors as will be readily understood. It .is to be noted that, in the winter time, in

the event it be desired to humidity the air, we may close the openings in louver board 5 and permit the humidified air which leaves blower 9 to be discharged into the room.

The cooled water will flow downwardly through radiator 25, baiiles 12, 13, and 14 as described above, to cool the air being conditioned which is being drawn in through radiator 25. The air being conditioned will be cooledby heat exchange with the cool surface of the bailles and of the radiator, and moisture will be precipitated from the air, which will drain ofi as described above. The conditioned air will be picked up by blower 8 and discharged into the room through louver board 5. In actual practice, we have been able to lower the temperature of the air leaving louver board 5 from 10 to 19 degrees depending upon the humidity of the air. It will be readily understood that our device is cumulative in operation, that is, as the air in the room is cooled and dehumidified, the evaporation rate will be amplified due to the fact that the air passing over the screen 28 is drier and the temperature of the cooling water will be lowered so that the air leaving the louver board will become cooler and cooler. As a general rule, however, the conditioned air will be from 10 to 19 below the temperature of the air entering radiator 25. Due to the fact that the humidity has been greatly reduced, it will be found that the difference in temperature and humidity will render the atmosphere of the room in which our device is being operated pleasant and comfortable. If desired, we may mount a dry thermometer 45 and a wet thermometer 46 on the exterior of our device to indicate the temperature of the room and the humidity. A switch 47 controls the operation of the motor '7. Water may be added from time to time through fllling opening 48 so that tank 11 will be constantly supplied with water. If desired, a level indicator will be provided to indicate the'level of the water in tank 11.

It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of our claims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made in. details within the scope of our claims without departing from the spirit of our invention. It is,

therefore, to be understood that our invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having reference now to Figure 4, we show an alternative method of increasing evaporation. As pointed out above, the use of a linen screen presents an increased evaporation area. We can obtain this increased area in another manner as shown in Figure 4. Motor is mounted in a depression or pocket 51 formed in the cover portion of the housing 1. Motor shaft 52 carries a plurality of small paddles 53 which project into the water tank 11 so that they will be immersed in the water. It will be apparent that, upon rotation of the-paddles 53, a spray of water will be thrown into the air above the water level in the form of water drops or mist presenting an increased evaporation area to the blast of air coming in through air inlet 27 and going to blower 9. We may use as many small agitators to form sprays. as we desire, through we have found that a singlespray is suilicient to do the necessary work.

On very humid days, a cake of ice may be added to the water in tank 11 to insure that the circulating water will be cooled down below the dewpoint of the air passing through the air conditioning passageway.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A water cooling device for circulating water used in an air conditioning device comprising in combination a fioating fabric screen contacting the surface of the water and means for passing air over said screen to induce evaporation of water to reduce the temperature of said circulating water.

2. In an air conditioning device, a cooling means comprising in combination, a liquid tank, a fabric screen adapted to be floated on the surface of the liquid in said tank and in contact with said surface, and means for inducing a flow of air over said screen to evaporate liquid whereby the liquid in said tank is reduced in temperature.

3. An air conditioning device comprising in combination a housing, a pair of air blowers mounted in said housing, a prime mover adapted to drive said blowers, an upper liquid tank, a lower liquid tank therebelow forming a passageway therewith, a plurality of hollow baflles in said passageway, means for placing said baiiies in communication with said tanks whereby liquid is adapted to flow between said tanks through said baiiies, means for supplying air to one of said blowers over the surface of the liquid in said upper tank whereby evaporation is induced to lower the temperature of said liquid, means for supplying air to the other said blower through said passageway, whereby said air will be conditioned by contact with said baffles, means for discharging the air from said first blower outside of the air space being conditioned and means for discharging the'air from said second blower into the air space being conditioned.

4. In .an air conditioning device a tank of liquid for circulation through said device, a floating framework, a fabric screen stretched thereon and adapted to be floated at the surface of the liquid in said tank and contacting therewith, means for passing air over said screen to induce evaporation of the liquid from the screen whereby the temperature of the liquid is reduced.

5. In an air conditioning device as in claim 4, means for raising the temperature of the air passing over said screen wherebyto reduce its relative humidity.

6. In an air conditioning device as in claim 4, means for discharging the air without the air space being conditioned after it is passed over said screen.

'7. In an air conditioning device as in claim 3, a floating fabric screen on the surface of the liquid in said upper tank.

8. An air conditioning device as in claim 3 wherein the air inlet to said passageway is provided with a radiator, means for placing said radiator in communication with said tanks whereby liquid is adapted to flow throughsaid radiator between said tanks.

9. An air conditioning device as in claim 3 wherein said housing is provided with baflies to defiect the air passing to said first blower onto the surface of the liquid in said upper tank.

10. In an air conditioning device as in claim 3, means for withdrawing the moisture precipitated from the air being conditioned.

11. In an air conditioning device as in claim 3, means for controlling the rate of air being discharged into'the air space being conditioned.

12. In an air conditioning device as in claim 3 3, an ozone generating device positioned in said passageway.

13. In an air conditioning device as in claim 3, wherein said means for discharging air from said first blower. comprises an adjustable member adapted to be fitted in a window opening, having an opening therein connected to said air discharge, said opening being in communication with the outside atmosphere.

14. An air conditioning device as in claim 3, having means to increase the evaporation of the liquid.

15. An air conditioning device as in claim 3 having mechanical means to increase the evaporation of the liquid comprising a prime mover and an agitator driven thereby, said agitator adapted to throw liquid to increase the area of liquid exposed to the air stream passing over the liquid.

16. An air conditioning device comprising in combination, a housing, an upper liquid tank, a lower liquid tank, said tank being adapted to form an air passageway with said housing, a plurality of hollow heat exchange members extending between said tanks and positioned in said passageway, the construction being such that liquid may flow between said tanks through said hollow members in heat exchange relation with air in said air passageway, means for evaporating liquid in said upper tank and discharging the liquid vapor outside the air space being conditioned, and means for passing the air to be conditioned through said passageway..

JOHN J. S'IRANG. EMILE P. BRUS. 

